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Hi Clive, I concur with the shape, much better than the current Hornby, I will take some pictures of mine in its current state, but so far 19 new handrails on the roof with 8 left to do, plus all the cab fronts hand rails. I resorted to removing the rivets and carving the door outline and adding hinge/locking detail as I didn't like the look of the etched replacement doors and the real doors look to be flush with the front panel. The other complication I discovered over the weekend is the early Lima loco has a class 30 roof so for a 31 the exhaust ports need changing.

Fascinating thread Clive, fair do's for having a bash at these, nice to see what can be done with them. I have to admit to having taken another look at some of the Lima bodies recently, and a 31 is on the workbench.

I have just bought a problematic chassis, (see my layout thread), by my recogning I am going to save money compared to buying a new one by combining with Lima bits for less than £60!

Can't help with any specific dates, but bodywork wise it retained boxes and doors on the nose until the very end so suggests it avoided any major accidents.

Hi Neil, Great work, I have followed Jim's method for the solebar removal and was generally straight forward. Having done a 24,a 25/1 and a 25/2, the 24 being the easier out of the 3 due to not needing to mess around with the bufferebeams and area forward of the cab steps, some photos are on my layout thread. Thanks Rob

Hi Dave, Looks a neat idea, I am plannign to do something similar for my next layout to reduce the time it takes to set up at shows.

Not sure how I missed this thread before now, but I really like this layout, can't believe the scenic session is only 8ft. The houses look excellent. Just a quick question, on page 3 a photo shows the cassette rack which looks a neat idea, but looks a little vulnerable from being knocked so wondered if there was anything to locate the cassettes in place? P.S. V. envious re the motor, can understand why you don't want the layout in the garage!

The Last 25 cab certainly looks like it is getting there, so the obvious questions are how much and when can I get my hands on a pair???

Not sure when it went grey but the nose doors were removed while it was blue.

In mine and a number of other modellers eyes, the Lima bodyshell looks nicer, both James and Jim S-W of this parish have put Lima bodyshells on either lima chassis with Hornby mechanisms or onto Hornby chassis with a section under the cab removed. The latter could potentially work on your model of 31106, or you could use the mech into a lima chasis. Either way there is a way to resolve your situation if you don't go down the route of Hornby replacing your chassis. PS. Doon't bin it! - There are people like me scouring ebay for broken Hornby 31 chassis!

Great thread, especially like the work you have done on the old wagons, ideal project also for younger modellers who are tight on cash and want to upgrade from toy train wagons to something more realistic.

Dodge dropside just creeping into the photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bristol-re/7614995854/in/photostream

Not having enough time to do it - simples...

Pwilson - i take it you have seen this: http://bristol-rail....Meadows_Sidings The 2006 album has some shots of the building although derelict

The building you mention is the Former Wills Tobacco warehouse, closed in the early 1990's, you won't see them on google because they were demolished by being blown up circa 1994, I stood on Bedminster Down to see it happen. The Ford Dealers now sits where they stood. To the left of them is the old Winterstoke road bus garage, which I based the model on my layout on, now long since demolished and replace with a KFC etc. This thread certainly brings back memories, I used to pass by Ashton Meadows everyday on my way to School between 1982 and 1995 and can't believe how much has changed. For a while I worked for the container haulier which owned the yard near to the level crossing, and remember being disapointed to hear from one of our drivers who was also an enthuisast that the Signalbox was on fire (circa 2000) when he drove past.

There was stock and track still at Ashton Meadows until the early 2000's, although has since been cleared. Look forward to seeing your finished layout, I have thought about doing it previously myself, although the next layout will be inspired by Malago Vale carriage sidings.

Personally I have found the Green FYE release from the first batch to be my preferred base model for BR Blue domino repaints, having glazed headcodes and serck grilles. The numbers are easily removeable from the headcode glazing easily with thinners and a cotton bud and to be honest what with the rivets on the window, plus any boiler roof conversions for your chosen prototype a repaint is on the cards anyway.

Excellent thread, thank you so much for sharing this!

Lovely layout, certainly a lot of class 31's! Just looking at 31412, was this originally 31270, the reason I say is it looks like the bufferbeam is sagging down and one corner looks cracked so could be the start of crumbling chassis issue??

Nice Job you have done with this Jo, looking forward to seeing it in September. Are you still with JS, have been in a couple of times in the last few weeks and not seen you?

Dave, re the other thread I have previosuly commented and do keep an eye on this, really like this layout, and often think about it when I flick through the reference books on my shelf as a fair number used to belong to you!

Here's a couple of pictures of my 4 16t Bachmann mineral wagons (taken on the very unrealistic Kitchen table!): They are weathered using washes of various browns, highlighted with grey, and Tamiya weathering powders.

Totally biased but nothing comes close Split box class 37 with buffer beam skirts:

Great work on the 37 and great job on the paintwork, you really can't see the join, your pics of the speedo cables has reminded me I must sort the bogies on mine. Also great tip on the shawplan fan grille with the fine wire, will remember that when I do mine. I know from expereience doing the underframe corner cut outs is a pain but it does make a massive difference imo and well worth the effort.

Not a prototype pics, but Nice pics of a 1:24 model terrier personnel carrier: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29179064@N05/6823612673/in/photostream